001: Sign-in System

Yue Xuexia is from a small family of commoners. She had two younger sisters and parents. They live a normal and stable life for a few years. Our Xuexia graduated with a BS in Information Technology. Though she had finally successfully graduated after shifting her course twice, she had stayed at home as a rice bug for three years without looking for work. In the end, she became a wasted investment for her family. Worse of all, she is the eldest of the three sisters.

Her second sister, Yue Jixia, is only a year younger than her; likewise, she also wasted more years in college because she moved from one university to another. But she had finished a vocational course for multimedia arts and a bachelor's degree for the cruise line. She still needs one last semester to graduate at the age of 26.

The youngest is five years younger than Xuexia. Her name is Yue Ruxia. She is currently a college student taking the course BS Accounting. She had the best life in the future.

Both their parents are still alive, but there are times they would fight due to circumstances, and most of that time because of their crazed mother. She had slight problems with her head, but the whole family tolerated her for it. Their father is a retired engineer; sadly, they didn't have any savings as they were all used up due to a pandemic that spread worldwide.

This pandemic is known as COVID. The worst and most annoying pandemic there is. It was because of this that the stable life of this family had ended, and they could only become peasants, among others.

The house owned by the Yue Family is only a single-floor house with a veranda, one living room, one shared bathroom without a bathtub, two bedrooms, a dining area, a kitchen, and the living room, which was transformed into a bedroom layout for the three sisters.

Are you asking why the sisters sleep in the living room? It's simple. The two bedrooms: one of the rooms is for their parents, and the other ended up as a storage room. The latter ended up as storage because of the bad air channels, which made it suffocating to sleep in there. Especially for Xuexia, who had asthma, the room's poor ventilation would be able to kill her.

Their daily lives were ongoing as usual, as the sister stayed awake playing mobile games as a group until 5 in the morning. They even watch the dawn arrive until the sky above brightens with the sun rising from the east.

The youngest among the sisters, Yue Ruxia, complained, "Dajie~ Erjie, I'm sleepy! I'll just carry you again tonight!"

"Okay. Let's go to sleep," said Yue Xuexia.

The second child clicked her tongue in anger while holding a phone, whose speaker echoed with the sounds of 'Defeat!'They obviously lost the last game, and the second child was disappointed.

"I've lost two stars straight! One more, and I'll be demoted to Epic from a legend!" complained Yue Jixia.

"Stop shouting! My ears are ringing. Go to sleep! Didn't you order Korean food online? It was expected to come tomorrow... I mean later. Don't forget to wake up to receive it," said Yue Xuexia.

Yue Jixia replied, "Ah! That's right. Let's put it on alarm~"

Suddenly, all the lights in the house were turned off. It wasn't completely morning outside the house, and the three sisters happily went to sleep. The whole house went silent as the sisters went to sleep. At 6 a.m., Father Yue and Mother Yue woke up to feed the chicken as part of their daily tasks. They've begun doing chores around the house, like sweeping the floor, making breakfast, and so on.

Three more hours later, Yue Xuehua, who was supposed to be sleeping peacefully, heard a robotic voice inside her head. She thought she was dreaming at first.

[Sign-in System host appraisal is in progress.]

[Ding! Appraisal Complete.]

The system fulfilled the wish of the host at 11:11 p.m. last night. I want to become rich—a dream within a dream. [The sign-in System Host requirements had been met.]

Now the system would bind with the host. [Binding in progress]

[Ding! Binding was successful.]

[The Sign-in System would now start automatic mode since the host is still asleep.]

The system went on and out for half an hour. It becomes quiet for 5 hours until the universal clock hits 10 in the morning. This is Yue Xuehua's usual waking time.

[Ding!]

Xuexia waves her hand in the empty air and mumbles, "Noisy. Turn off the damn alarm, whoever owns it!"

When a robotic voice lingered near her ears, saying,

[Signed in successfully.]

[Congratulations to the host, and you've received 1 million RMB in cash!]

Xuexia, who is currently in need of great money, was in disbelief as she looked at the words one million and laughed.

"Heh~ even in my dream, I was wishing to receive free money. Well, I even made wishes every 11:11 at midnight every day like a lunatic. What nonsense, let's go back to sleep."

Yue Xuexia was about to close her eyes back to sleep when the old touch-screen phone near her pillow vibrated.

Bzzztt~ Brzzzt~

"Urg~ who the hell is calling now?" complained Yue Xuexia in her half-asleep state.

She picked up the phone only to see a message notification saying the following words:

[Your bank card account ending with 5567 had received a deposit transfer from XXXX at 6:45 a.m. You have received a 1 million deposit and your current savings balance is 1,003,000.00 RMB (Autumn Field landbank).]

Yue Xuaxia mumbled in disbelief and said, "Fucking hell! This is awesome."

Yue Xuexia reads the message word for word. Seeing her card's last number series, she thought that her card was being stolen and opened the online banking app on her phone to check her minuscule savings to keep her savings account open.

After tapping the Autumn Leaf Design app on her mobile phone and entering her account using her biometric fingerprint unlocking option, the online back template opened on her phone. She saw her registered name on her phone and saw her savings. She started counting the zeros on it.

"One, two, three, four, five, and six. Shit got real. It's really one million RMB!" mumbled Yue Xuehua as she glared at her phone.

Excited! Yue Xuehua stared at the holographic system interface floating above her face. She tried touching it and found that it was tangible to touch, and she could grab it. It left like touching a cold, smooth metal plate with no weight.

After getting excited for a while, Yue Xuehua felt unable to accept such a good pie from the heavens and thought her dreams this time were indeed amazing.

With her eyelids flapping up and down, Yue Xuehua once again hugs her pillow and gets back to sleep while mumbling.

"Ah~ I'm on night shift for today's chores. Xiao Ji! Wake up and do your chores, and isn't your order from online coming today?"

She shouted without waiting for a response, and then what followed were her low and rhythmic sounds of snoring. She instantly went back to sleep after all of her excitement was used up. It was already 3 p.m. in the afternoon when she once again opened her eyes.

Zzzzz~

For her and her other two sisters, only the one who is tasked with morning shift chores would wake up in the morning unless they were going to do their chores; most of them would wake up at 3 to 5 p.m. They are certified night owls.

The morning chores were tasked with being done by the second child this morning. Half an hour after Yue Xuehua went back to sleep, Yue Jixia woke up and started cleaning the house.

The Yue household is just a small and simple family. They rely on their chicken farm in the backyard for basic necessities. Electricity, water, and her sister's education are paid for by their parents, while Yue Xuehua could barely help with the food budget and internet bills. She is an unemployed salted fish and a rice bug at home.

[A/N: Salted fish is a term for a person who doesn't want to do anything, doesn't want to move at all, and can stay in one place, waiting for someone to flip them up. Like a drying salted fish under the sun. On the other hand, a rice bug is usually a term used for a person who stays at home for almost the entire day and every day, living off of his parents. [In short, a parasite.]

When she opened her eyes, she saw the youngest lying on the bed beside her. She is lying on her stomach while watching K-pop music videos on her phone. Yue Ruxia is that person. The person who follows idols like online stalkers, dancing and singing to the beat and music of Korean music, especially boy bands filled with young, handsome men living on their faces. A real Kopper.

The sound of Korean lyrics played in the background as Yue Xuexia languidly opened her eyes.

Yawning, she asked her younger sister and said, "Ruru, what time is it?"

"Hm?" Hearing her elder sister's voice calling her name, Yue Ruxia moved her head to her right and looked at the other bed beside her. She saw her sister almost fail to wake up. "It's 3:30 pm. Dajie, are you hungry? Mom won't be cooking anything for dinner tonight. What should we eat? By the way, the fridge is empty again."

Groans~

Yue Xuexia could hardly open her door as usual, especially since her sleeping time was cut off for a while this morning. After stretching for a bit, her body was energized enough for her to sit up and leave her bed. The first thing she did was to check her phone to see the time.

Grabbing a pastel pink-cased old model Huawe* phone from 5 years ago, she saw that it was 3:30 pm, as her younger sister said. Remembering that she still has 3,000 RMB in her savings account, she decided to buy takeout for tonight's dinner.

Yue Xuexia's thoughts: 'Isn't it Mama's birthday today? Let's buy a few more dishes for dinner. Thankfully, I've already paid the internet bills for this month.'

Her usual question for a time like this to her sisters is, 'What do you guys want to eat?'

She indeed asked that, and her two sisters answered what they wanted to eat. They need to at least want to eat the same thing, or it would be a waste of delivery fees for two different orders.

Yue Jixia answered, "Chicken bucket!"

"Chicken again? Can't we eat something else? I want to eat pasta," said Yue Ruxia.

Yue Xuexia heard their request and said, "We just ate chicken last week. Let's get a pizza bundle with pasta and potato wedges tonight."

Her thoughts were, 'I've just remembered. Today is Mama's birthday. Let's buy a lot and some cakes too.'

"Then add milk tea. Sis, I want to drink milk tea~" said Yue Jixia, not far from her. Yue Ruxia was also nodding her head and obviously wanted to drink milk tea as well.

Yue Xuexia hesitated for a moment, thinking that her money might not be enough, but for some reason, she was craving some frappuccino and decided to indulge this time. She opened a food delivery to a cute panda with a pink background.

Once the menu is opened, she taps on the interface for food delivery, and a list of nearby restaurants appears on her screen. She found her favorite pizza restaurant and ordered the usual bundles available in the store.

This store promotes lots of options for bundles.

Option A: Family Pan Spaghetti and two 9-inch pizzas of your choice + 1 liter of coke.

Yue Xuexia skipped this one as it could only feed 3 people, and there were no potato wedges included. She needs to buy a large serving, as her parents will also be eating.

Option B: Medium-Panel Mac and Cheese and a 12-inch pizza of your choice + a couple of smoothies.

Seeing the second option, Yue Xuexia almost closed the app for an old virgin like her; she hated all loving couples in the world.

"Okay, the next option is..."

Yue Xuexia turned a blind eye to it, as if this option shouldn't exist at all.

Option C: Two family-size pans of pasta of your choice, three 12-inch pizzas of your choice, two 1.5-liter cans of coke, two boxes of potato wedges, and 10 pieces of chicken.

Yue Xuexia commented, "Wow~ this option looks great. How much is it? Hm~ 1,999 RMB? Not bad, let's get this. 800 RMB should be enough for the milk tea. Let's check out this bad boy~"

She casually dragged her order to the checkout, chose a visa, and paid for it online. After the order was placed in the queue, she opened another store to order some milk tea next. She picked her favorite frappuccino with multiple toppings. It's a sakura-iced latte with chocolate syrup and white chocolate mallows.

Yue Xuexia passed her phone to her siblings and went to the bathroom to clean up herself for a bit.

"Here. Choose your order and checkout on your own. I'm taking a bath. Charge it after, okay?" said Yue Xuexia.

Yue Ruxia was the one who answered, while Yue Jixia just nodded her head. The two cuddled in the corner as they stared at the small screen of the phone and scrolled up and down to choose their own drink.

Only then did she leave the bathroom and take a bath. She took her time to clean herself; even though they don't have a heater, she heated water in a pot and mixed it with the cold one. She used the now-warm water to take a bath. She almost took half an hour to finish bathing and returned to the living room to wait for their orders.

In the bathroom, the system finally activated as his host had awakened. She almost slipped when the robotic voice echoed in her head.

[Ding! The host is finally awake. Congratulations! You have been chosen as the host of the sign-in system. You are forbidden to tell the other about the existence of the system, or our binding would be terminated.]

Yue Xuexie cussed in shock, "Fudge! I'm not dreaming!? That one million this morning is real!?"

[The host doesn't need to speak with the system using your mouth; we can converse in your thoughts and... This morning, it's real. It had been used as well. Your sister ordered two large milk teas, and your parents also added a few more for their own when they heard it was your treat. The total, plus the delivery fee, is 2,301 RMB. Your total savings is 998,700 RMB.]

Yue Xuexia remembered her phone receiving messages from the bank each time she used her card to pay.

"Do they know about the 1 million?" she asked.

[Yes. They now know.]

Yue Xuexia panicked and said, "What should I say then? I don't have any source of money to get it from."

[I'll give the host a white Novice-grade gift bag. It depends on you what you would get.]

Out of nowhere, a small white brocade bag with scarlet floral patterns appeared in front of her. The brocade bag was exquisite and waterproof; it was even lighter as it landed on Yue Xuexia's hand.

"Wow, it looks pretty," murmured Yue Xuexia.